A beautiful event, full of talent, joy and the magic of Stephen Sondheim.
When my editor listed the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer Of The Year event up for reviewing (which I will refer to as SSSSPOTY because I do have a word limit to stick to), I jumped at the opportunity to put myself forward for it.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Stephen Sondheim – or “God” as my drama school singing teacher used to call him – is nothing short of a legend of musical theatre. He was one of the most innovative, influential composers and lyricists to ever walk this Earth, and his legacy inspired, informed, and shaped contemporary musical theatre in an unprecedented way. Without him, we would have no “Rent”, no “Parade”, no “Hamilton”. I am not going to start talking about his musicals because frankly this 500-word article would turn into a 500-page book. I am instead going to focus more on his role as a mentor, not only to the actors who performed in his plays, but also to the millions of students and emerging creatives who were inspired by his legacy.
Having been mentored himself by Oscar Hammerstein II, Sondheim always considered teaching to be sacred. He became a patron to The Stephen Sondheim Society 1993, when the society was founded. Since then, The Stephen Sondheim Society’s goal has been to nurture and promote new talent. The SSSSPOTY, an annual competition for graduating drama school students, is one of the Society’s biggest events, in which each contestant is required to perform two songs, one with music and/or lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim, and one song from the New UK Musicals database, another way through which The Society aims to champion new talent in musical theatre.
The 12 finalists that took part in this year’s competition, which marks the event’s 15th anniversary, were an absolutely joy to witness. It would be pointless to comment on each of them individually because I would, in all honesty, have pretty much the same things to say about everyone. They were absolutely breathtaking. A beautiful mix of performers, each of whom painted their performances with their own unique style.
GSA’s Harry Warburton and RAM’s Pétur Svavarsson received a much-deserved commendation for their stirring performances, and what a joy it was to see a fellow non-native English speaker perform on a West End stage – you won’t often see us up there, but we do exist. Emily Botnen, also from RAM, was awarded second place. Even before the results were announced, I knew I was going to write about her. Simple, elegant, with incredible vocals but, most importantly, with a fantastic understanding of the stories and the characters she was presenting. Stephen Sondheim famously wrote for the actor who sings and “didn’t really care how well the actor sings”. He considered himself a playwright above all else. I might be biased coming from an acting rather than an MT background, but it was their acting skills that in my opinion set Harry, Pétur and Emily apart from the rest. And the same is to be said of course for the winner of this year’s SSSSPOTY, fellow Italia Conti 2023 graduate, Milly Willows, whose “Worst Pies in London” lit up the stage of Sondheim Theatre. As soon as she started singing, we could see a whole world created around her. And she was the main character.
It was an absolute joy attending this event. Congratulations once again to all the finalists, I’m sure we will be seeing them again on the West End stages soon enough.